Schließlich! Germany Tops Italy in a Big One

Published on 2-Jul-2016 by srijan213

Soccer    Soccer Daily Update

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Schließlich! Germany Tops Italy in a Big One

Who'd ever have thought this cold fact would make it into the 21st century:

In 54 years of World Cup and EuroCup play, Germany had never beaten Italy.

Well, now Die Mannschaft is 1-8.

And, as this was a Euro 2016 quarter-final, it took penalty kicks ... and penalty kicks ... and ... in what seemed forever -- kinda like that losing streak -- the Germans outlasted their nemeses after a totally avoidable 1-1 scoreline in regulation by claiming a 6-5 advantage from the spot.

 

The Germans won this in spite of themselves.

The Azzurri, meanwhile, stayed in it because of sterling defense, including this gem by Alessandro Florenzi:

 

After 65 minutes of mutual muddling, Mesut Özil finally gave half the crowd something to cheer about:

 

Talk about infiltrating Italy's back four!

But a mere twelve minutes later, was Jérôme Boateng thinking he was blocking an NFL point after touchdown?

Why in the name of Leonardo di Caprio would the dude have his arms raised at any time in a proper football match?

 

What do they have in common here?

Both are acting brain dead. Leo's the dude in the fedora:

 

Leonardo Bonucci -- easily the best player on the pitch all night -- had no intention of messing this one up.

 

This was followed by more muddling, which led to the inevitable shootout.

And who would've thought Germany would prevail if all of Thomas Müller, Özil, and Bastian Schweinsteiger missed?

 

Germany’s Manuel Neuer is not the best in the world for nothing.

Click on a photo to enlarge.